An article on GamesIndustry.biz (registration required) recaps a presentation at Ubisoft's Digital Day in London by Thomas Paincon where Ubisoft's online brand marketing group manager talks about Nadeo's ManiaPlanet portal, the upcoming first-person shooter ShootMania, and user-created content. "It will give the freedom to the FPS community to build their own games, to build their own modes," said Paincon. "Because right now ManiaPlanet is just Trackmania 2 Canyon, we can't see the different bridges between both titles. Now it is a concept, but when ShootMania releases next year it will be more understandable to players, how they can benefit from one to the other." He also discusses shooter business models: "And because its not free-to-play there will not be any 'I buy this weapon so I'm more powerful.' It's a concept, it's a gamble, because its new, but this is the strength of Ubisoft - we have a different mindset," he explained. "We have Ghost Recon Online at the other end, which is more realistic, team-play, strategy, free-to-play. It's our strength to be able to test the different business models."

Hylis: What's the status of Puzzle mode for TM2? (It is going to happen at some point, right?)

Also, I'm sure there's plenty of creativity among Ubisoft employees, but for anyone who cares about DRM, Ubisoft is pretty much the most hated big publisher there is, and Nadeo selling itself to Ubisoft was one of the saddest items of gaming news ever.